More than 1,000 of California’s top health insurance brokers gathered in person and through live video-stream last week to hear some of the state’s foremost health insurance leaders reaffirm the critical role brokers will play as health reform takes hold.

Featured speakers at the “Health Reform Summit” included Paul Markovich, chief executive officer of Blue Shield of California; John Word and Rusty Brown, co-founders of Michael Lujan, director of sales and marketing for Covered California, the California state health insurance exchange; Ron Goldstein, president and CEO of Administrators; and Don Goldmann, vice president of Word & Brown University.

Brokers who missed attending event in Los Angeles and Orange counties can watch a recording of each speaker at:

As keynote speaker, Markovich addressed the changing California healthcare landscape from the perspective of the carriers with a specific focus on how health reform will affect small groups, mid-market groups and individuals. Blue Shield of California provides health, life, dental, vision, and Medicare insurance and healthcare service plans to more than 3.3 million members in California.

In representing the state’s public exchange, Lujan provided a snapshot of the status of Covered California, including work done to date and the roadmap of what still needs to be accomplished – including carrier selection – before the exchange can launch with an effective date of January 1, 2014. Goldstein, in turn, gave an update on California, stressing the exceptional service and value-added benefits that Californiaprovides as the nation’s most mature small-group private exchange. Both Lujan and Goldstein stressed the vital role brokers will play in both the public and private exchange, calling brokers the critical linchpin in cultivating the market, educating their clients and enrolling individuals and groups into either exchange.

The California Broker Health Reform Summit was sponsored by the as part of their nearly 30-year history of working with brokers to help them grow their businesses through innovative sales tools, cutting-edge quoting systems, and a selection of carriers and products that continue to be the industry’s most desired. Consistent with this commitment brokers at the summit took advantage of the latest health reform continuing education (CE) course, “Looking Backward and Forward With the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” conducted by Goldmann.

“This summit was a rare opportunity for brokers to hear from the industry’s leaders, ask questions and get an overview as to the business opportunities awaiting them in the changing market,” said Jessica Word, president of the Word & Brown General Agency. “Throughout the year we will continue to look for ways to provide brokers with the timely and relevant information they need to be an indispensable resource to their clients.”

Word & Brown General Agency is part of The Word & Brown Companies, which provide insurance services through more than 55,000 brokers to hundreds of thousands of individuals and almost 60,000 employers with nearly 6.5 million eligible employees. The organization also offers broker-assisted and direct-to-consumer online sales of individual and family health and Medicare plans and accident, dental, vision and life insurance coverage. Also included in The Word & Brown Companies are: Administrators, the nation’s leader in developing and administrating employee-choice health benefit programs; CONEXIS, providing benefits solutions to clients nationwide, with expertise in COBRA and HIPAA administrative services, direct bill services and flexible benefits administration, including flexible spending accounts and Section 132 commuter benefits; Quotit Corporation, the leading Internet application service provider for the health insurance/employee benefits industry; and Health which works with brokers and carriers to help individuals and families easily research, compare, buy and enroll in the right health insurance plan at the right price. For more information, visit .